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ODA: Ohio has become a hotspot for avian flu

Ohio’s director of ag says the state has become a national hotspot for highly pathogenic avian influenza this year.

Brian Baldridge says more than 11.5  million birds have been depopulated because of the virus.

“As we’ve seen the numbers in Ohio, we’ve heard the poultry industry and them coming together to say we have to do something differently,” he says. “Trying to figure out what this next step is to do our best to come out of this outbreak that we’re in right now.”

He tells Brownfield the first human case of HPAI  was detected because of a collaboration with the Ohio Department of Health.

“Obviously it was a direct contact and that’s kind of where the message stems from,” he says. “It was a farm wroker. We still are saying that this is an animal to animal disease. If folks are in direct contact, personal protective equipment needs to be used just from a precautionary standpoint.”

Baldridge says the Ohio Department of Agriculture is urging producers to evaluate their biosecurity and take precautionary steps to prevent the spread of the virus.

ODA says when HPAI is detected, facilities are quarantined, and birds are depopulated to prevent the spread of disease. A control area and surveillance zone are also established for additional disease monitoring.

The most recent confirmed case in Ohio was in a commercial egg layer facility in Darke County on Feb. 19th. More than 164,000 birds were depopulated.

Avian influenza does not present a food safety risk.

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